Attempted in April: 4 Challenges

Warmer weather and sunshine have invigorated me this month and helped me have more of a "can do" attitude.  So I decided to dive in to several online challenges.  While I was at it, I connected with a friend on Facebook and we decided to add one more.  Here's the rundown of endeavors:

1. The Great Outdoor Challenge

For this challenge, my kids and I were supposed to spend time outdoors every day and take photos.  I decided to post most of the pictures on my Facebook page, but here is one shot from last week:

This week we've been outdoors most days but have not snapped any photos.

2. Make Week

Trying turn off the T.V. last week was a helpful experiment. I don't watch any T.V. on a regular basis myself, so this was more of a parenting challenge.  Megan at SortaCrunchy shared very similar conclusions about how dependent we have become on an electronic device for dealing with children.

Our family made it for two and a half days without T.V. until I relented.  My daughters were not feeling well and could not play outside, so we let them watch some videos while they rested.  And then it was back to our old habits of letting kids watch videos while I make dinner, shower, etc. 

3. Project: Spring Green

My goal was to get my garden started.  Well, it's about halfway ready and no seeds have been planted yet. But we will finish planting soon.  Yes, we will!

4.  Early Dinner Prep

My friend and I were lamenting how wretched it is to start preparing dinner at 5 p.m. with cranky kids (and Mama).  So I asked her if she wanted to check in later in the week.  Our goal: to see if we could both make and eat dinner earlier.

On my third night of trying, we finally succeeded in sitting down to eat before 6:00 p.m.  It was wonderful!  There was also the sweetness of knowing that a friend of mine who has similar struggles to my own was tackling this issue with me.

An even bigger challenge for me is to turn a singular triumph into a habit. I'm not seeking to become a supermama.  But by God's grace, I believe long-term change is possible.  And on the way greater fruitfulness, I have found it sure is nice to get a little encouragement from my friends.

An anxious heart weighs a man down,

but a kind word cheers him up.

Proverbs 12:25 

 

Ladybug Games

Once I came across some colorful ladybugs made by Amanda recently, I remembered an activity that included ladybugs made from lids with marbles underneath. The point of the game, as I recall, was to have the ladybugs roll to reach a flower.  I decided our flowers could be drawn with sidewalk chalk.

So we set about crafting our own ladybugs and gave the game a whirl.  Each one of my three children, who range in age from 2 to 6 years, had great fun making them together with me.

Steps to Make the Ladybugs (or "Ladybirds"):

1. First, we drew ladybugs the size of plastic juice carton caps and colored them. 
2. Then we cut them out and glued them on the caps. For some of the ladybugs we cut out brown paper heads and glued under the bodies. 
3. We didn't have plastic googly eyes, so we used a hole punch and pen and glued eyes near the edge of each plastic cap. 
4. We put a marble underneath the cap so the ladybug could roll. This is optional however, since they slide without marbles as well.
5. Our driveway was too grainy for the ladybugs to move smoothly, so we cut a piece of plastic and laid it out on top of the leaves and flower drawings.  Sticks and stones were used to keep the plastic from flying away in the wind.  We also tried wax paper indoors, which also worked and allowed the ladybugs to land on the real leaves underneath.

Ladybug Game and Activity Ideas

• Ladybug Hopscotch: The bugs move from leaf to leaf to flower. This can be done by pushing them gently. Or, holding the ladybugs, kids can hop with their feet on a larger array of leaves.

• Musical Leaves: A version of musical chairs where the bugs or the kids holding them move around until the music stops. See the song below if you need one.

• Ladybug Song: Sing these lyrics below to the tune of 5 Little Ducks.

                                   Five ladybugs went out one day,
                                   Over the hills and far away,
                                   Mama bug said "buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!"
                                   And four ladybugs came wandering back.

• Ladybug Cake Walk: Similar to musical chairs, except the bug that lands on the flower when the music stops wins a treat.

• Ladybug Relay: Set up a track and have the bugs tag the next ladybug until the team finishes the race.

More Ideas?
My kids also had fun just holding the ladybugs and moving them around imaginatively.  You might think of more ideas as well.   If you do, please add your idea(s) as a comment.

Further Reading
Making and playing games with these ladybugs would also be enriching accompaniments to Eric Carle's book, The Grouchy Ladybug, or another of our favorites, Ten Little Ladybugs, by Melanie Gerth.

Menu Plan for the Week of 4/26: Cooking with What We Have (Mostly)

My new favorite lunch dish, stuffed avocados is becoming a regular menu feature.  I experimented last week with stuffing them with leftover grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce and tomato, which was a definite success.  I may vary the stuffing from week to week, but I think avocados are a lovely gluten free sandwich alternative. Hopefully I can try this raw vegetarian version soon as well.

Our meals this week are based on what we currently have in the kitchen.  There are a few exceptions, like the above avocado, which we need to replenish since avocados are so popular in our house.

Monday

• Salmon Spaghetti Pie
• Chicken Kebabs, Rice

Tuesday

• Egg Salad Sandwiches
• Cashew Noodle Stir-fry -New!

Wednesday

• Almond Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
• Meatball  Casserole

Thursday

• Quinoa, Grilled Zucchini and Egg Salad

• Turkey Burgers, Lentil Soup

Friday

•  Korean Cold Noodle Soup  - Still haven't tried making this yet!
• Turkey Sausage and Egg Casserole

Saturday

• Stuffed Avocados
• Grilled Venison, "Russian" potato salad

Green Craft of the Week: DIY Cardboard Blocks Tutorial

Remember those cardboard blocks from your childhood?

I surely do.  In my preschool days I spent hours playing with them.  I hoped one day we could get a set of these cardboard blocks for our children.

However, given our budget lately, this wish was not to be.  I even spotted a set at a consignment sale, but they seemed pricey still.  So I decided to make some blocks at home.  I was able to use materials that we already have, making the out-of-pocket cost minimal.  After trying them out, we decided it would be fun to try velcro.  The velcro increased the project cost from zero to about $1.99.

This project was well-timed to coincide with watching a Bob the Builder video a few weeks ago.  Now we are reading about how Laura's father built their cabin in Little House on the Prairie.  These blocks are a fun way to extend what we've been learning about construction and..."demolition!"


Materials:

• empty milk or juice cartons
• scissors
• packing tape
• sturdy brown paper (reclaimed paper grocery sacks or kraft paper)
• crayons, optional

1. Carefully open, wash, and dry the cartons.  Cut the top corners and fold flat.  Secure with tape.  The top should now be as flat as the bottom.  Use more tape if necessary.

2. Wrap the rectangular cartons with brown paper.  Cut, wrap, and tape the ends so the results are as flat as possible, which will make them more stackable.  It is best to slit each corner like this:

 3. If desired, invite kids to decorate the blocks with crayons.  They can draw brick patterns or embellish them as creatively as they wish.  When the blocks are done, kids can build an rebuild as their imaginations lead.

Sticky Option: Use strong glue (or hot glue) to affix Velcro patches to blocks and make structures sturdier.

 
Note: As we acquire more empty cartons we will replace the toilet paper packages with carton blocks.  In the mean time, the hodgepodge works for me!

This post is also linked to:

Hanging Out Day and Why I Love to Line Dry (Re-post)

In honor of National Hanging Out Day, here is a re-post from May 2009.

For about 7 years, I spent part of every day outdoors and never had to load an electric dryer with clothes. I lived among millions of people who probably never considered owning such a power-gobbling machine. Lately I’ve been revisiting a simpler past with my solar-powered clothes dryer.

Not only does it reduce our carbon footprint, this drying mechanism also gets me outside in the fresh air, which is where I thrive. My clothes smell fresher than when they are tumble dried, too.

And the best thing is, I was able to make this energy efficient contraption with a $5 investment in some wooden clothespins and nylon clothesline. What a deal!

Now admittedly, since we are a family of five and every day is not so sunny, I still use my electric dryer. In the colder months, I go off solar power almost entirely.

But now that the sun is warm and bright, I have the perfect excuse, and three little assistants to help dry our clothes with the natural power of the sun and wind. And if my forgetful self happens to leave the clothes on the “dryer” overnight and it rains? Then that load gets an extra rinse cycle with no further energy expended.

These clothes, for instance, were rinsed twice before making their way back inside.

Going out to the line is also the perfect excuse to let cool green grass squish beneath my bare feet.


Outdoor bliss.

Filling Our Love of Nature Tank

It's my favorite time of year, tulip season. My weary, downcast soul beholds the simple splendor of the tulips I see and, for a moment, I think upward to the one who designed their beauteous form and brilliant colors.

Just yesterday I heard about the great outdoor challenge.  It's the perfect remedy for our hunger for nature and green that churned all winter long.  Rain or shine, we'll be spending time outside each day and documenting our fun in photos.  There's a button on my sidebar to declare our participation, though we joined a little late . You're welcome to join us too!

My girls were excited about the rain, hoping I would let them don swimsuits like the neighborhood friends did in the book, Come On, Rain .  I gave them raincoats and a giant umbrella instead.


What else shall we be doing outside? Hopefully our raised garden will begin to look like this again...

Our First Garden, 2008

...and we'll be able to get outside and play each day, turning to my list of 69 ways if we need some fresh ideas.

The longer I am on this earth, the more I realize that my primary avenue to an abundant life is via the outdoor world.  I have a strong desire to learn more about the Sacred Pathways that Gary Thomas explores in his book.  Nature is one of the nine paths.  Taking time to open those pages when I am out enjoying the fresh air seems the perfect place to begin. I hope I can report that I have taken that action step in the next week!

What are you planning to enjoy outdoors in the days ahead?

Craft of the Week: Muffin Bouquet for Mother's Day, May Day or Teacher Appreciation

Materials Used:

• Tin can
• Fabric (large enough to wrap can)
• Fabric glue
• Ribbon
• Artificial flower petals, optional
• Brass fasteners, optional
• Bamboo skewers
• Paper mini-muffin liners (extra)
• Freshly baked mini-muffins
• An orange (one that fits in the bottom of the tin can)
• Green ribbon or yarn, optional

Instructions:

1. Cut and wrap tin can with fabric.  See these instructions for creating a fabric wrapped vase for further details.  Decorate vase with coordinating ribbon by wrapping and tying a bow.
2. Place an orange in the bottom of the tin vase. Insert blunt ends of skewers into the fruit to form the stems for the bouquet.
3. If using artificial flower petals, pierce each petal toward the narrower end with a sharp knife.  Arrange petals into a flower and secure each bloom with a brass fastener (through the holes that were pierced). Place a muffin on each bloom and poke skewer through the bloom and half way through the muffin.  Tie a length of green ribbon or yarn around the stems to add greenery if desired.
4. If not delivering the muffin bouquet immediately, remove muffins and store in a tightly closed container to keep them moist.  Reassemble the bouquet by adding the muffins shortly before giving the muffin bouquet.

This post is linked to DIY Day and more!

Teaching My Child to Read: What is the Best Way?

My oldest child was extremely eager to learn how to read before she entered kindergarten.  I had never taught anyone how to read before.  I wasn't sure how.  So, since we were opting to send her to public school, I thought we would leave it to the experts and she would be reading in a couple of months. After all, she knew her alphabet and the sounds of the letters very well.

Every day for the first two months or so, she would come home impatient that she had not learned to read yet. In her kindergarten class they worked on the alphabet and the sounds of the letters so that everyone in the class could first master these.  They also worked on learning to write--a lot.  Each day they would busily trace letters on worksheets and copy words from book titles.  But these activities did not seem to be propelling my daughter toward her goal of learning to read words.  These were pre-literacy tasks for the children who still needed them.  Meanwhile, we tried to encourage my daughter to be patient.  The reading would come.

After the first quarter we started hearing a bit about sight words.  Finally!  Perhaps during these weeks of waiting,  I could have taught my daughter to read.  But I felt I lacked the know-how and that she might be bored if she were suddenly able to read while the many in the class lagged behind.  So we let it be.  Oh, we still read together every day, just like we were told we should and wanted to do anyway.  My daughter was constantly writing words, asking us to spell them.  But at six years old, she was still on the cusp of reading, not quite there yet.

Neither my husband nor I quite remember how we learned to read. My husband is a doctoral student in the field of education, and he has said that from everything he has read, literacy is still, in some ways, a "black box."  No one knows exactly how that threshold of being able to read is crossed.  But after observing the process my daughter went through, he and I are in agreement about some of the practices that might slow down the learning-to-read process.

1. The emphasis on writing.  Based on our experience and knowledge of language education, writing is the most difficult of the four skills to master.  The receptive skills (listening and reading) are easier than productive skills (speaking and writing).  So we think that just like children understand what they hear before they are able to speak, they can be taught to read before they need to write.

2. The approach of sounding it out.   Slowly sounding out the letters is not always the most effective or efficient way to tackle new words.  If children are used to hearing the word, when they try to read it, they can use a variety of clues to say or even guess the word without focusing on each and every letter.

So there.  This is my emerging philosophy of how reading should be taught.  I have much to learn still, and I would love to know what more experienced parents and teachers have to say on the matter.  Perhaps I'll do things a little differently with my second and third child as my knowledge and confidence grow.  Or maybe now that my oldest knows how to read, she'll be able to teach her siblings. I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

Have you taught a child or children to read?  What do you think is the best way for a child to learn how?

This post is linked to the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge at Steady Mom.

Colored Pistachio Art and Napkin Rings: Craft of the Week - Part 2

We finally completed the gluing process with our dyed pistachio shells!  First the kids and I made some framed art.  Theirs turned out to be more abstract than my floral design above.

To find out how we colored the pistachio shells and pasta, see Part 1 of this craft.

Materials for Colored Pistachio Shell Art:

• colored pistachio shells and/or pasta
• Elmer's Glue All
• white paper
• straight twigs, broken and cut to fit the edges of the paper

The napkin rings were a solo project that I did.  Hot glue and little fingers don't mix.  The blue denim should match my mother's kitchen colors.  I will choose a different fabric to wrap the cardboard rings if I make a set for myself.

Materials for Colored Pistachio Shell Napkin Rings:

• colored pistachio shells
• hot glue and glue gun
• long fabric strip or ribbon (I used denim from old size 4T jeans)
• cardboard tube, cut into sections
• buttons (mine were salvaged from a stained shirt)

This post is linked to Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative, DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land and...

Colored Pistachio Shells and Pasta: Craft of the Week - Part 1

My children dyed eggs after Easter this year, on Wednesday, to be exact.  They were occupied telling the story of the Resurrection with their Resurrection egg sets for most of Easter weekend.  I was busy procuring and preparing what we would eat for Easter dinner.

I thought it would be fun to use the leftover egg dye to color some pistachio shells.  My kids got in on the dyeing and colored some pistachio shells and pasta as well.  We discovered that the pistachio shells absorb more color when they are left to soak for a few hours.  Dyeing pasta, however, requires only a few minutes.  One should avoid leaving pasta in the dye for too long or it may turn to mush (as some of ours did).

We let the dyed shells and pasta dry overnight.  Today the gluing can begin!  We are planning to make flower pictures (to frame with twigs) and floral napkin rings.  Other creations may arise spontaneously as we go along.  These projects can be cheerful additions to our spring decor and might become gifts for Mother's Day and/or May Day.  I intend to post our results as part 2 tomorrow.

 Starting to arrange some pieces (pre-glue)

Are you planning to do any spring projects this month?

Menu Plan for the Week of 4/5: Post-Easter Eggs

Joy and fellowship persisted around our tables in spite of several mishaps yesterday. For example, just before serving dinner I discovered that the rice cooker was not connected to the power cord.  Hence, we didn't have quite us much food as I had planned, but there was still more than enough.  I'll be attempting to use all the leftover rice as well as some of the hard-boiled eggs in my food plans this week.

We celebrated Easter in several ways, but dyeing eggs was not among them.  I still hope to dye the eggs that I boiled soon.  What was accomplished was an Easter dinner featuring slow-cooked leg of lamb, asparagus, Russian potato salad, tossed green salad, fresh pineapple, and apple crisp.

Monday

• Leftover Russian Salad with Eggs
• Baked Chicken, Broccoli Walnut Rolls

Tuesday

• Egg Salad Sandwiches with Pesto
• Leftover Lamb, Rice, Vegetables

Wednesday

• Almond Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
• Calzones, Salad

Thursday

• Quinoa, Grilled Zucchini and Egg Salad

• Salmon burgers

Friday

•  Korean Cold Noodle Soup with Egg
•  Waffles

Saturday

• Leftovers
• Grilled Venison and Chicken, Sweet Potatoes

Ain't That Good News!

Preschool Artwork by K.B.

Recent good news from friends has gladdened my heart like never before.  I am so thankful for such friendships.  When my own life is hard, it is good to look at how God is blessing the people I care about and share a bit of their happiness.  Why am I just discovering this now?

Some ways I am rejoicing with those who rejoice:

• The best man at our wedding got engaged recently and is getting married this summer.  I understand better why everyone was so happy for us when we were engaged.  We will now get to be one of those gushing married couples who congratulated us so warmly on our wedding day ten years ago.
• Another friend shared the news that she has found someone who may just be her God-given match. I am eager to learn about how God's plans for her unfold.
• My sister has another job--at a good company.  This is an answer to many prayers.
• We have several friends blessed by expecting another child this year.  And one of these couples had their fourth child last month.  We went to visit them and share their joy.  I had fun making my first ever diaper cake to give to them for the occasion.
• My husband received a teaching award this semester.  Such news is gratifying, after pouring his energy and expertise into students who treat their education and grades as mere transactions rather than as an opportunity to grow. He gets a couple hundred dollars as part of the recognition as well, which we certainly appreciate during these financially tight grad school years.
• But the best news of all is what we celebrate every Easter.  I've been studying the book of John in a Bible study that meets each Wednesday.  Looking at John's gospel has deepened my insight into the wonder of who Jesus is and what He did in perfect obedience.   And his triumph that grants my pardon and gives access to life with Him is my greatest cause to rejoice.

What are you celebrating these days?